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I think people want very much to simplify their lives enough so that they can control the things that make it possible to sleep at night.

Twyla Tharp

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Twyla Tharp
Age: 83
Born: 1941
Born: July 1
Ballet Dancer
Choreographer
Dancer
Writer
Portland
Indiana
People
Lives
Night
Enough
Much
Make
Simplify
Things
Control
Think
Sleep
Thinking
Possible

More quotes by Twyla Tharp

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The thing about creativity is, people are going to laugh at it. Get over it.
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I feel I can handle the architecture of dance as well as anybody.
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The great ones never take fundamentals for granted.
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I was valedictorian. Did I enjoy going to school? I hated it. It wasn't a choice on my part, it was expected.
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It was not until I had graduated from college that I made a professional commitment to it. Frankly, I didn't think it wise. I was my own interior parental force, and it's very difficult to justify a profession as a dancer.
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I often say that in making dances I can make a world where I think things are done morally, done democratically, done honestly.
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I had to become the greatest choreographer of my time. That was my mission, and that's what I set out to do.
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Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
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If art is the bridge between what you see in your mind and what the world sees, then skill is how you build that bridge.
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There is obviously a power and a truth in action that doesn't lie, which words easily can do.
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Don’t sign on for more problems than you must. Resist the temptation to involve yourself in other people’s zones of expertise and responsibility. Monitor troublesome situations if you need to, but don’t insert yourself unless you’re running out of time and a solution is nowhere in sight. In short, stifle your inner control freak.
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The disasteris not the money, although the money will be missed. The disaster is the disrespect--this belief that the arts are dispensable, that they're not critical to a culture's existence.
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To make real change, you have to be well anchored - not only in the belief that it can be done, but also in some pretty real ways about who you are and what you can do.
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I have to feel that each thing I've learned I can push to another point next time. I'm not very good with repetition. I would rather not work than feel that repetition is the order of the day.
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My mother was a dominant force in my life. She had a very specific idea about education, which was: you should know everything about everything. It was quite simple. There was no exclusivity, and there really was no judgment, which is a good thing for someone who still thinks of themselves as a very basic American.
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I started formal piano training when I was 4. From there I had little violas, and I had dancing lessons of every sort and description, and painting lessons. I had German. And shorthand.
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I walk into a large white room. It's a dance studio in midtown Manhattan. The room is clean, virtually spotless if you don’t count the thousands of skid marks and footprints left there by dancers rehearsing. Other than the mirrors, the boom box, the skid marks, and me, the room is empty.
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Once you accept the power of spine in the creative act, you will become much more efficient in your creativity. You will still get lost on occasion, but having a spine will anchor you.
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When you stimulate your body, your brain comes alive in ways you can't simulate in a sedentary position.
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There's an energy that comes through the release of tension that is laughter.
Twyla Tharp